McCain Reportedly Considers One Term Presidency Pledge

Republican presumptive nominee Sen. John McCain is reportedly pondering whether to pledge to only serve for one term as President, Times Online reports:

John McCain is considering making a pledge that he would serve only one term in the White House when he accepts the Republican nomination at his party’s convention next month.

A promise not to seek re-election after four years would be unprecedented in modern presidential politics and the idea is understood to be opposed by many senior figures in his campaign who fear that it would reduce his leverage with Congress and create chaos in the Republican Party.

The argument against it is that a President who only sought to serve one single-elected term would go into office an immediate lame duck, and deflate his clout as someone who can help or hinder members of Congress to get elected. And — it’s argued — it would be a band-aid in terms of the Republicans’ grasp on the White House and create an immediate scramble for his successor right after election day — and make his Vice Presidential choice more crucial than ever. However, there have been inklings in news reports in recent weeks that McCain is now doing a lot more things his own way.

But Mr McCain, who has a habit of ignoring advice and bucking conventional wisdom, is attracted by its potential to transform a race that has already showed signs of tightening in recent weeks.

His Democratic opponent, Barack Obama, is presenting himself as a figure of generational change who can unite America by reaching out to independent and even Republican voters.

Mr McCain, who will celebrate his 72nd birthday while the Democratic convention is held this month, would be the oldest first-term US President ever. A pledge to limit himself to four years in office might go some way to assuaging concerns about his age.

Perhaps even more importantly it could help Mr McCain – who has his own strong appeal to independent voters – to distance himself farther from the partisan political divisions that have made Washington a byword for inaction and self-serving interests in recent years.

Could this work? It’s not a given that McCain’s foes — or even some Republicans who support him — will like this idea. But it would be unusual for someone to run for election and say that as proof that he’s going to do what he believes is correct and not be consumed by partisan divisions, he’s not going to run for re-election.

The problem is: voters will then more than ever try to make sure they know full well what he believes is correct. And does it automatically follow that not running for two terms will make him less partisan?

If he serves for just one term will he still have Karl Rove as an “informal adviser” and be surrounded by former Rove proteges? Phil America-Is-A-Bunch-Of Whiners Mental Recession Gramm has already re-appeared at McCain’s side. That’s not exactly Reassurance City.

Another thing that will undercut the attractiveness of his argument about the benefits of not caring about elections: Vice President Dick Cheney.

Cheney has made it clear on several fronts that he could care less about polls, care less about what voters think and that he and the administration were going to do what’s right…as administration officials defined it. “Right” is in the mind of the beholder…

But if McCain opts for such a declaration, it would most assuredly shake the stalled race up a bit and some voters would take a closer look at him.

Will they like what they see when they look at him in that context?